Defect Prevention

Welcome to DefectPrevention.org, the companion web site to The Practical Guide to Defect Prevention.
Here you will find supplemental material as well as examples of some of the topics and procedures mentioned in the book. Producing high quality products is the goal for most companies. Defect prevention is prevalent in most industries, whether it is cooking oil temperature for McDonald's fries or fitting the doors on a Lexus, improving processes in order to prevent defects is fundamental to business. As a result, manufacturers can offer products and services that carry warrantees and provide the customer assurances that the products will meet their expectation.

Today, software packages do not guarantee they will perform as the buyer expects, or even insure against catastrophic damage to existing software. As software gets more complex, and the software ecosystem more interdependent, there is ever-increasing pressure to improve reliability and quality. In order to build trust with partners and customers, companies must ship high-quality products. Fixing bugs as customers find them is expensive - both in terms of development and testing costs as well as customer trust. Rework also runs the risk of regression.

The book and this site strive to harness the collective wisdom of the community and find new ways to prevent defects, moving the detection of defects closer to their introduction. Written by experts with over a century of software development experience among them, this book distills hard-won lessons into a set of actionable lessons that will help deliver better-quality software.

Here at the site you can:

Get more information about the book

Participate in discussions and the community about Defect Prevention practices

Find out what the authors are reading, and what books inspired them to write this book